Empty Nest Syndrome

The girls got moved into their new chicken coop two weeks ago, now. The kids think it is great that the hens have their own little house and yard. Here soon I need to decide which ones to keep and which ones will be going to new homes. It is tempting to keep them all - they are so interesting to watch! In a few more months, they'll be allowed to roam the entire backyard.

First afternoon in the newly-finished coop.



I have been watching craigslist for weeks now and came across a breed I thought I'd have to order from a breeder across the country - Wheaten Marans!! Hubby agreed that I could get two - so it was time to get the brooder back out! I've read that you should be able to sex them at this age by looking at their wings: definite black = boy; fawn/tan = girl. For now, it looks like I have one of each. I'm so excited to have them - the hens are such beautiful birds.

Food, Inc.

I watched this documentary with my husband last night. It was very eye-opening. I've already been leaning towards eating more locally grown foods, along with getting the chickens, rabbits, and having a garden of our own and this video has only made me more determined. It's hard to believe what big corporations are getting away with: suing farmers whose crops have been pollinated by their patented crops, suing farmers for helping other farmers save seeds that are not patented, etc. It's been obvious for some time that they (and the politicians who seem to work for them) are also trying to do away with small, local farmers by passing ridiculously stringent laws. I've read that Food, Inc. is very one-sided, though I can't see how. They were interviewing real people that work/have worked for these companies.

I'm so glad that my husband watched this with me; in fact it was his idea. He is now one hundred percent on board with the chickens, rabbits, and garden. He himself stated that our kids are no longer going to eat McDonald's when we're out and about and he's started looking at the labels on all of the processed foods in our cupboards. Though he's in great shape (for now), he's always been a junk food junkie and the kids have been following in his foot steps. It's going to take a lot of planning and effort on my part to lessen our dependence on processed and non-locally (is that a word?) grown food - being an active duty Air Force mom doesn't leave a lot of time for anything that isn't absolutely necessary.

There is a farmer's market about an hour from here that I will start visiting this summer. A friend of mine is going to start raising hogs, hopefully this year. We don't really have enough land for a cow, maybe we'll get goats after all. It's going to take a while for us to make all the changes we need to make - it seems pretty daunting right now. Wish us luck (and check out the newest blog that I'm following! SAHMville

Not so cute anymore...

This is not a great picture but it's the best I was able to get (I don't have the patience to take 10's of pictures). All the chicks are starting to look really raggedy as they lose their baby down. In just a few more weeks they aren't going to be recognizable from their baby pictures.



My favorite so far. She's a bit of a spaz but also very curious. She's an EE and looks like she'll develop the ear muffs. For now, she is called 'Fuzzy Face' - I'm sure this will change but the right name just hasn't struck me yet.

So, after a little research

It appears that my little mystery chick may be a Dominique. The chicks at that address look nearly identical to the one in question, with white spots on the back of the head, white belly, wings beginning to bar, and a comb that is not the single that most breeds have. He/she even had a little black running down the front of the legs when they first arrived. As for the size, there are bantam Dominiques, but none listed at McMurray - the place that I bought them from. The Dominique seems like a very interesting breed - one of the first (if not the first) developed in America. They are also said to be very personable and calm. Here's hoping that it's a pullet so she can stick around.

Curiouser and curiouser

When our chicks arrived last week, one of the first things I did was check the packing list included. According to this list, they'd sent 5 Buffs, 6 Australorps, 5 Speckled Sussex, and 5 Easter Eggers - 21 chicks. Within a few days, I lost 2 SS, which should put me down to 19...however, when counting the chicks (while they're running around trying not to be counted), I always came up with 20. Today while cleaning their brooder, I decided to do a real count...20 birds. It would appear that they either gave me an extra EE, or they did in fact include the rare chick. In fact, there is one baby who doesn't really resemble any of the others. I wrote about this chick last weekend - she/he's so much smaller but still lively. I'm wondering now if it's some kind of bantam chick. I looked through the hatchery's catalog and couldn't find a banty chick that looked similiar. Guess we'll just have to wait and see how it develops. Here is the chicky in question.

Today's projects

Besides the usual household chores, today I also need to get all the fruit/nut trees pruned and some of the bushes removed. I hope to have enough time and energy to clean up the area where we plan to start the compost pile. Btw, the little apple tree we planted a few weeks ago is sprouting new leaves. The peach tree met with an unfortunate accident involving one large unsupervised almost-grown dog. Apparently Sadie thought that a stick buried in the ground was a great toy...One final thing will be to plant the spinach and lettuce seedlings in a pot outside.

Sewing Room

Another project in the planning stage is going to be a sewing room just for me! We have an extra bedroom which is now the office. We need to procure a table of the right size, then I will be setting my sewing machine up permanently. It's such a pain to have to drag it out and put it back when I want to work on something. Because of this (and the fact that we have so much going on all the time), I haven't actually brought it out in quite a while now.

Chicks!

Chicks arrived one week ago today! I've gotten completely addicted to the show Lost (watching via Netflix) and have been really slacking in a lot of areas recently. The picture above was taken at three days of age. When the chicks arrived it was apparent from the packing list that we didn't get any of the Cuckoo Marans I wanted so badly. We also didn't get the 'free rare chick' but they did include an extra Australorps chick which took the sting away a bit. The Speckled Sussex chicks were much smaller than the others - I don't know if they are a smaller breed or if they aren't as hardy a breed. I ended up losing two of them. All but one of the other chicks are doing great. The chick in question is one of the Easter Eggers. She is still really small though she is eating great and acting normal. We'll see if she ends up being strong enough to make it. The Buffs, Australorps, and most of the EEs have been active and voracious from the start. Next weekend we should be getting the hen house ready for occupancy and the following weekend building the run. I will post more pics later.

First seedlings have sprouted!

This weekend I planted some spinach, lettuce, and radish seeds. I wasn't expecting to see any sprouts for 2 weeks or so (according to package directions) but as of this morning, many of the spinach and lettuce seeds have sprouted! When starting seeds indoors, I lose nearly all of them due to damping off. This year I believe I'm better prepared, so here's hoping for salad in a few weeks. The radishes were planted in a pot outside and don't look to have sprouted yet.

Slowly building

We made some progress yesterday.

While out buying chick starter and a heat lamp, we noticed the store had good prices on fruit trees so we bought two, an apple (with Red Delicious, Granny Smith, and Fuji) and a peach (Florida Prince). I've never planted trees but tried to be as gentle as possible with the roots and amended the soil as we filled back in the hole. I'm a little worried about the fact that neither of these trees had much of a root system. We'll keep 'em watered and see how it goes.

Hubby started mending the pasture fence while I did the laundry and other house chores. Our neighbor approached him and actually offered him a free gate! He got the hot-wire spacers set up and we should be able to bring my horse out next week.

One thing I noticed yesterday is that I'll have to rethink where to put the bee hives. I thought I had the perfect spot, on the east side of the house where no one really wanders - until I noticed some sort of meter there, possibly gas. I doubt the meter man would enjoy climbing over a hive when trying to read the meter - might be entertaining to watch though.

We removed one of the oleanders - we now have two small ones to go. I would have pruned the pomegranate and walnut trees but I can't find any of my pruning shears - not looking forward to buying new ones; they're so expensive.

I can barely keep my eyes open, so that's all for now.

All moved in with chicks on the way!!

We got the keys to our new house shortly after my last post and immediately started moving in. Chris had to do nearly everything himself because I was still on crutches at the time - it was pretty tough on him. Luckily we have some really great friends. We're mostly settled in now, I'm off the crutches, and when it stops raining we'll be starting on outside projects. First thing, hen house and chicken run - our chicks will be arriving the second week of February. Most hatcheries have a minimum order of 25 - we ordered 5 each of Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, Cuckoo Maran, Speckled Sussex, and Easter Eggers, all pullets. We'll keep all the chicks for a month or so then start selling them to friends. I plan to keep 2 of each breed until they start laying in case one decides he'd rather crow than lay eggs. I will post pictures when they arrive!

Edited to add a photo of the soon-to-be hen house!!

Still waiting...

On the house, that is. We supposedly only need one more signature and should be signing ourselves this week. I surely hope so. We were supposed to be in the new house before Christmas but honestly, we needed the extra time. We are getting quite antsy though!

Speaking of Christmas, I received some great gifts from the DH. A breadmaker and a KitchenAide mixer. The breadmaker will really help out - I hate feeding my family bread loaded with preservatives and other chemicals. I've also never really gotten kneading down right so I'm really happy with it. The mixer will help me to make so many more things from scratch as well. I'm looking forward to really breaking them in.

I contacted someone on Craigslist about some chicks they have for sale. They are asking more than hatcheries do, so I'm hopeful that they have truly purebred birds. I would prefer to buy local due to the small number of hens we need. I have planned for 4, one Easter Egger, one Buff Orpington, one Black Australorps, and one Cuckoo Marans. Starting with a variety will give us more of an idea about what we need - it'll also make things a little more interesting. There is a nice little place in the back yard where the coop and chicken yard will go - this will be one of Chris' first projects.

I have been re-thinking our rabbits and for now have nearly decided to go with a breed of Angora for meat as well as fiber. We will be building pens for the does and youngsters in our little red barn. There is someone locally that sells a few breeds - I plan to check him/her out sometime in the next week. Rabbits are a ways out yet, I'm afraid.

I don't think we'll be ready for bees this year but we'll have to see. Chris is going to build me two of those top bar hives. We aren't too worried about production, more about pollination and bee health so top bar hives seem to be the way to go. I haven't yet figured out where we're going to put them - more pondering to do.

Trees - we'll be looking at fruit trees this week. I want apples and peaches at the least. We have pomegranate and walnut trees already on the property - both need pruning badly. I wonder if the walnut trees have a disease as many of the branches are dead. Guess we'll be finding out.

Chris has met our soon-to-be neighbors and said they seem like nice folks. I hope to meet them myself very soon.

Well, it's about time to get this house ready for my amazing husband's return from work. Fried pork chops for dinner tonight :)